Shuffled
by HiImDelta
Summary: Series of song based one-shots of varying length and genre and with various characters in varying universes. Updates whenever I get bored. Rated T for mild violence and language. Enjoy.
1. Yesterday

A/N About a year back, I started a series of song-based drabbles. Calling the series " _Shuffled_ ," I ran it for a few months before stopping to work on other projects. Well, I'm restarting it. These will be one-shots of varying lengths and genres, based on either song titles, song lyrics, or both. This series will update whenever I'm bored and have the time to write one. But just because I can, I'll start you guys off with one today. Oh, and unless otherwise stated, each story exists in its own universe.

 _Yesterday_ (Marianas Trench)

* * *

 _Dear Phineas,_ It began. Isabella read the letter in her head over and over. Even after it was secure in a little pink envelope, she still read the memorized message in her mind. This was not the first letter she had sent confessing her feelings for her best friend, but it was the first that she wasn't planning on taking back.

Isabella decided that, at fifteen years old, she had waited long enough; that she needed to tell him. But seeing as she was still scared to death of confronting him directly, she chose to confess in a written letter. Unlike her previous letters, she spent many days writing this one. She made sure to use clear and concise wording that even Phineas Flynn's romantically ignorant mind could understand, and tried her best to leave out any childish, overly-girly phrasing. In the end, she had to rewrite it on a second sheet of paper, her first draft being more eraser marks than anything else. It was the perfect letter. The perfect confession.

She stuck it in an envelope, stamped it, and sent it off. As soon as she closed the outgoing mailbox, a feeling of relief came over her, followed quickly by feelings of fear and anxiety. However, she knew that what's done is done and that there was nothing she could do about it.

So she waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Every time she saw Phineas walk by her in the halls, or sit down next to her at the lunch table, her heart raced. She hoped that he would suddenly take her hand, confess, or even just kiss her.

But he never did. Two weeks passed by, and nothing happened. Eventually, she just asked him. She waited for him at the lunch table, and as soon as he sat down, she blurted the question out. "So have you gotten my letter?"

"Hmm?" Phineas said, unprepared to be asked a question.

"My letter," Isabella repeated. "I sent you a letter two weeks back. Did you get it?"

"Umm... No. Sorry. I guess it got lost in the mail." This answer stung in Isabella's heart. "What was it?"

Isabella hesitated, knowing that he had just given her an open invitation to confess. "Oh, it was nothing," She said a few moments later, turning the invitation down. She returned to her food and stayed quiet the rest of the day. But while her mouth remained silent, her mind wouldn't shut up. Thoughts of fear, of denial, of hope all raced through her head. Maybe he'd get it in a couple of days. Maybe he got it but doesn't like me back.

It wasn't until late that night that the final thought went through her head. Maybe this is a sign. It had been eight years since her crush on him emerged. Eight years of hinting and waiting, hoping and imagining. Eight years of failing to lift the veil of his obliviousness. Maybe it was all a sign. A sign that they weren't meant to be; that they could never be.

After a while, the "maybe's" disappeared from her thoughts. She decided that the lost letter was a sign. That day, she decided to stop chasing after a man that she could never catch.

It took almost a year, but she eventually got over him. And for two years after, she looked at him not as a crush, but as a friend. She was content. By the time she was eighteen, the letter and all it represented, were gone from her mind.

–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–

A small bell rang out as Phineas Flynn walked through the front door. "'Afternoon, Mr. Flynn." The worker at the counter greeted him. As populated as the tri-state area was, everybody knew the famous Phineas Flynn by name.

"Hey." He greeted back. "I hear you guys have a package for me."

"I believe we do." The postal worker retreated to a back room for only a moment before returning with a large brown box in her hands. She set it, along with a clipboard, down on the counter. "Sign here please." As Phineas signed his name, another voice called out from the back room.

"Is that Phineas?"

"Yep." The worker yelled back.

"Well don't forget to give him the thing."

"The thing?" She repeated quietly to herself.

"There's a thing?" Phineas asked, curious.

"Oh right, the thing," She said, suddenly remembering what she had found days earlier. "We were doing some redecorating when I found a letter addressed to you. It was hidden behind a cabinet. Sorry. Anyway, here it is." She held out a small pink envelope.

Phineas took the letter and checked the return address. "It's from Isabella. I wonder why she'd send me a letter. Oh well. Thanks." He put the letter in his pocket and carried the large box out to his car.

–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–

"Hey Ferb, I got the new robot head," Phineas called to his step-brother after entering the house. Ferb came out of their shared room and descended the stairs. "I also got something odd."

"Odder than a robot head?" Ferb asked.

"Different kind of odd," Phineas replied. He put the large box down, and dug the envelope out of his jeans and presented it to Ferb. "It's a letter from Isabella. Which, under normal circumstances, wouldn't be considered odd. But apparently it got lost in the post office a while back. Think I should open it?" Ferb shrugged. He noticed the envelope's abnormal color scheme and remembered the crush he still believed Isabella had on his brother. "Maybe I should ask Isabella about it."

"Letters were meant to read." Ferb pointed out, before picking up the large box and taking it to the garage.

"I guess he's right," Phineas said to himself. He walked up the stairs and into his room, the whole time staring at the name written in small print calligraphy in the upper left-hand corner of the envelope. As much as he was sure it was nothing, his natural curiosity burned inside. Quickly taking a seat on his bed, he grabbed his brother's pocket knife from the bedside table and cut open the envelope. Inside, folded perfectly in thirds, was a single sheet of white notebook paper. While the outside envelope was worn and covered in dust from many years behind a cabinet, the letter inside was perfectly preserved.

He carefully removed and unfolded the letter. The first thing he noticed was that it wasn't dated. The neat, cursive handwriting implied that the author was at least ten when it was written while the calligraphic addresses implied that Isabella was a teen when she sent it. He could've figured out exactly what year it was written if he spent enough time on it, but it was not the age of the letter, but its contents, that interested him most.

 _Dear Phineas,_ He began reading it in his head, just as the author had many years prior. As he read further and further, his eyes widened. He could barely believe what was right in front of him. The letter confessed, in great detail, the crush that Isabella had had on him. It told how she had waited for so long, how happy she was to finally confess to him. He read it and re-read it. He pinched his arm to confirm his consciousness and read it again. Halfway through his fifth re-reading, the door creaked open to reveal Ferb, smiling in the doorway. Phineas immediately placed the letter behind his back, out of Ferb's view.

"You should go see Isabella," He told the red-head.

"You knew?" Phineas asked, completely surprised and a little appalled that his own brother would keep this from him.

"I may have."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I wasn't going to take that moment away from her." Phineas jumped up from his bed, ready to run out the front door and straight to Isabella's house. "You might want to take the letter with you." Ferb reminded him.

"Right," Phineas replied sheepishly. He grabbed the letter, placed it carefully in the pink envelope, and ran out of his room and out his front door.

When he got to the curb, he stopped. Staring dead ahead, the tan house across the street seemed to stare back, daring him to come closer. While he was reading the letter, moments kept flashing in his head. Moments that he should've recognized as hints, but failed spectacularly to do so. The trip to Paris, the cruise, the picnic, the card from his thirteenth birthday. Feelings of love were the only things that had occupied his mind. But now, all he could think about was their friendship. The two had been friends since the moment they met. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if this, if they, didn't work. He had no doubt that the chances of this happening were low, but the thought stayed in his mind nonetheless.

He continued across the street, his enthusiastic sprint reduced to a hesitant stroll. He reached the door, completely unprepared for what he knew would come next. He hid the letter behind his back and knocked on the door. His already racing heart went into overdrive as he waited for the door to open. He knew that he didn't have much to worry about, as the letter confirmed her mutual feelings for him, but there was something about love, something about her, something about the entire situation that completely scared him. A few moments passed before he heard the doorknob began to move. The wooden entrance crept open. Phineas simply stood there, paralyzed with anxiety.

"OH! Hello, Phineas. How are you?"

The young man didn't know whether to feel relieved or even more anxious that it was not Isabella, but her mother, that answered the door. "Hello, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro." He hesitated again, knowing that this was his last chance to back out. "Is Isabella home?"

"Isabella!" A raven haired girl poked around a corner, just enough to see who was at the door. When she recognized the red-head smiling back at her, she emerged and began making her way towards him.

"Hey, Phineas. What's up?" She greeted as she walked down the hallway.

"Hey. Umm... how do I put this?" He asked under his breath. "I kind of, well, got your letter."

"I didn't send you any-" Her sentence stopped short when she saw the pink envelope Phineas had just pulled out.

Phineas didn't know exactly what to expect from Isabella's reply. He knew it would probably be something like a kiss or a hug. At the very least, he'd get a quippy remark about how it took him long enough. The one thing he didn't expect was the answer he got. "Oh no." It took him a couple seconds to understand her reply.

"What?"

Isabella moved to the side of the doorway, making an opening for Phineas to enter. "You should probably come in and sit down." The sheepish smile turned into a worried look as he entered the house. Once he was in, Isabella closed the door behind him and followed him into the living-room.

They sat down on her couch and turned so that they were facing each other. Isabella looked down. "Phineas. I wrote that letter three years ago. I wrote it as a way to finally confess the feelings I had for you." The word "had" hit Phineas like a bullet. "When you never got it, I took it as a sign. A sign that we weren't meant to be."

"What are trying to say?" Phineas asked.

"My crush on you lasted eight years. That was eight years I spent waiting day after day for you to get it. I just couldn't take it anymore. I just..." She paused, looking for the right words. "couldn't wait anymore. So I stopped. Phineas, I don't have feelings for you anymore."

Every word she said stung him like a needle. He had no idea how to feel. Part of him wanted to get angry, both at himself for being so stupid, and at her, for dragging him along like this, for not confessing sooner. Part of him wanted to cry. To run out, sit down in the corner of his room and just stay there forever. Somehow, it seemed that they were breaking up before they could've ever been together.

"But what about this?!" He asked, his voice cracking and catching in his throat as anger and sadness clashed in his tone. "Isn't this, me finally getting your letter, a sign too? A sign that we can be? You were always waiting for me to finally get it. Well, now I have. Doesn't that mean something?"

"If you had gotten it only a month, or even a year, after I sent it, then maybe. If we were still in your backyard, wondering what we would do that day, then absolutely. But we aren't." She stood up and waited for him to do the same. "I'm sorry. I'll walk you home." She tried her best to smile, but couldn't muster more than a small one.

"Thanks, but no." Phineas denied her invitation. "I think I need to be alone for a while." He walked out the door and went home, never looking back.

Isabella wondered if she had just spoken the last words she'd ever say to Phineas. She sat back down and noticed the small pink envelope sitting in Phineas' place. Everything that had just happened, happened because of this letter. This one stupid piece of paper she'd written three years ago.

She wanted to shred it.

She wanted to frame it.

But she did neither. Instead, she picked it up, removed it from the envelope, and began reading.

 _Dear Phineas,_

* * *

A/N Well, that was the first one. I hoped you all liked it. So before you ask, no they won't all be romantic or dramatic. And no, they won't all center around Phineas and Isabella. It'll all depend on what song I get.

Also, I'm doing a new thing where if you review, you get a preview of the next chapter in the form of the first 400 words (rounded up to the nearest whole sentence) in a PM as soon as they're written. So... yeah. Keep in mind that guest reviewers will not get previews since I can't PM them.


	2. Locomotive Breath

A/N Hey, sorry for being late. I had a bit of trouble with this one. Hope you like it!

 _Locomotive Breath_ (Jethro Tull)

* * *

Isabella and Adyson sat opposite each other on the vibrating steel floor. The metal bars of the cells blocked their escape but not their vision. "You know, I'm starting to regret signing up for this mission," Adyson revealed.

Isabella smiled. "Hey, they gave you a chance to back out."

" _You sure you two want to do this? It'll be one of the most dangerous missions yet." Candace asked._

 _Isabella and Adyson exchanged a quick look. "We're sure," Isabella confirmed._

"Well yeah, but that was before the mission actually started."

"You have to admit, it started off great."

 _The elevator doors squeezed shut, and the container began to move upward. It was only in motion for a second before a sudden stop sent the passengers slightly off the ground. Isabella opened the emergency hatch and began climbing up. "They had to make this hard, huh?" She was about halfway out when the elevator began moving up. The sudden movement caused her to fall back into the elevator and land dead on her back."_

" _Apparently not," Adyson said as she helped Isabella up. The elevator continued moving for a few seconds before slowing down to a gentle stop. The doors dinged, and the number two popped up on a small LED sign inside the elevator. They moved to opposite sides of the front and readied their weapons._

 _The doors opened, and a voice shouted to them, "Come out with your hands up." Isabella glanced at the small army reflected on the back wall._

" _There are too many," Isabella said to her partner._

" _Yeah. Well, we have two options:" Adyson said back. "Go out guns blazing, or..."_

" _Or surrender and be taken prisoner."_

" _I kind of like the one where we don't die." Adyson threw her gun into the middle of the elevator. Isabella followed suit. They raised their hands and slowly came out of their cover. Two guards rushed forward and beat them to the ground. They were handcuffed and taken out of the base._

"Yeah, great."

"HEY! Shut up!" The lone guard screamed at them as he entered. They took his advice. Silence fell over them as they waited.

After a couple minutes, a sharp screech broke the silence, and a strong force moved the two towards one side. The guard, unable to stay upright, fell to the floor, unconscious. Isabella and Adyson smiled at each other. Their waiting was over.

Isabella dug in her hair for a bobby pin.

" _Why can't we just blow it up?" Adyson asked as she leaned on the table. Around her sat Candace, Baljeet, and Isabella._

" _Well, for one, we'd like to capture the target alive if at all possible," Candace explained. "That, and it's also in the middle of the city. We blow it up and civvies could blow up with it. Infiltration is our only option."_

She found one, and moved to the front of the cell, and began working on the lock. Adyson did the same on her side.

" _So how do we get in there, and get to the heavily guarded captain, without getting captured?" Adyson asked, still unsure of the effectiveness of this particular plan._

" _That's the fun part," Candace revealed. "You don't." Adyson's face formed a look that screamed "Oh no" louder than any mouth ever could._

The lock clicked, and Isabella opened the cell door.

" _That's why you're going to get captured first."_

Adyson picked her lock and joined Isabella. She walked over to the guard. "Free weapon," She said, grabbing the guard's sidearm and keys. The small movements woke him, but he barely got a moan out before Adyson slammed his head against the steel floor. She holstered the weapon and threw him in the cell she previously occupied. "See how he likes it." She taunted, locking the door.

"Come on, we have to go," Isabella ordered. She pulled the front door open, and air rushed in as soon as the seal was broken. "One down, lots to go." She carefully walked across the couplings to the other side. With one hand on the outside hull keeping her steady, she pushed the door open the next door open. A guard turned towards her but caught a bullet in the shoulder before he could raise his weapon. Isabella rushed forward, knocking him to the ground.

"Regretting it slightly less now."

"You could've shot me."

"But I didn't," Adyson said, grabbing a rifle from the gun racks. "Want one?"

"I'm good," Isabella replied, showing Adyson her new nightstick.

"Suit yourself." Adyson started walking towards the next door.

"Okay, next one should be troop transport. They'll be armed, so be ready."

" _We're gonna be at the back. Like, the way back." Isabella pointed to the prisoner transport carriage. "There between us and the target are three cars, one cargo, two carrying guards, on their way to their first day on the job. We'll have to Remember, we want him alive."_

" _How many guards will there be?"_

" _Lots."_

Isabella slammed open the door and rushed in towards the dozens of guards. Adyson followed close behind. She fired on the armed guards, giving Isabella the opportunity to take some out with her nightstick. The clip quickly ran out, and Adyson switched to her newly acquired sidearm. When that ran out, she joined Isabella, taking them out up close.

"You weren't kidding!" Adyson yelled out as she dodged batons. They kept fighting until only one was left standing.

"The prisoners escaped! We need back-" The snitch was silenced with a blow to the head, but the damage was already done.

"Well, crap," Adyson complained as she picked up a new sidearm.

"They'll be waiting for us in the next carriage."

Adyson opened the door to the outside and began climbing the next carriage. "So we go up."

She helped Isabella up and the crawled slowly across the top of the car. The wind rushing by kept them from going much faster than a snail.

They got to the other side and landed in between the first and second cars. In front of them lay the engine car, which held the warden. "Here we go." Adyson opened the door and yelled out "Hands up!" The warden did not follow her direction. He drew his weapon and pointed it at Adyson. She did the same to him, leaving them in a standoff.

Isabella entered. "You're outnumbered. Turn around and put the gun down."

Seeing that he was defeated, the warden did as he was told.

Suddenly, two shots rang out. One was fired by the warden, the second by Adyson, who hit him the leg. As the warden went down, he pushed a lever and the two stumbled back at the sudden increase in speed.

"What did he do?" Isabella asked Adyson.

" _Okay, so we can't blow up the train. What's to prevent them from blowing it up."_

"I think he shot out the brakes or something."

The old warden groaned. "You better hope we don't hit any sharp corners."

 _Candace sighed. "Nothing."_

"Shut up!" Adyson said, before silencing him with a kick to the head.

Isabella heard the door to the second carriage open and ran over to keep their door closed. Guards banged at the door. "I can't hold them for long!"

"I have an idea." Adyson began searching the control panel. "Found it." She pressed a button and the thudding stopped, Isabella peeked out the window to see the rest of the train falling back.

"Nice work, but now what?"

"I don't know," Adyson admitted. "I might be able to find another way to activate the brake, but it won't matter at this speed. I think jumping is our only option."

"At this speed? We'd probably die on impact."

"And we'll live happily ever after in here," Adyson said with a tone full of sarcastic anger.

"Point taken." Isabella opened up the back door. The city was rushing by them.

"You first. Then me," Adyson said from behind her.

"Okay." Isabella hesitated for a second before leaping. She braced herself and landed, skidding across the asphalt for a few meters before stopping.

"My turn," Adyson said to herself. She was about to jump when another gunshot rang out. She looked down to see a large dark spot forming on her torso.

"If I'm going, you're going with me." More gunshots created more dark spots and Adyson collapsed on the metal floor.

Isabella looked on, waiting for her friend to appear and skid across the road like she did. Her worry became greater as the train moved farther away. Until it hit a single sharp corner.

The train flew to the side, smashing into a building and exploding in a ball of fire and metal. Isabella ran towards it, calling out Adyson's name. She was almost halfway to the wreckage when she froze. Normbots, the dictator's guards showed up the scene. Isabella knew that if she continued, she'd most likely be caught. Or worse. She ducked into an alleyway and sat against a building, scolding herself. "She should've gone first," She told herself. "She should've said no. I shouldn't have let her even go." Tears began crawling down her face. After a few minutes of sobbing and scolding, she rose from the ground and began the long walk back to her base. She could still hear the fire roaring behind her.

" _You aren't exactly filling me with confidence," Adyson stated bluntly._

" _It won't be easy, but if we succeed, the prison is ours. Every resistance member that has been captured will be free. We'll have an army."_

 _Adyson looked to her commander, then to Isabella. "Fine. I'll do it. For them."_

" _Good."_

" _Yeah, I just hope I don't wind up joining them."_


	3. Miss Missing You

A/N Okay, look, a lot of these stories, including this one, will take place in the second dimension. Why? Because I really like writing the second dimension characters (especially the Firestorm Girls), as it lets me go a bit more serious and dramatic with the characters and story. This is good for me because I like writing drama, and good for you guys because drama is the genre I'm best at writing. So, without further ado...

 _Miss Missing You_ (Fall Out Boy)

* * *

"Gretchen, report." Isabella's voice called across the quiet rooftop. She was anxious but dared not show it.

"Nothing yet, sir," Gretchen replied, still gazing through the binoculars.

"So what, are we just gonna stay up here all day? When can we go back to base?" Adyson was anxious as well, but for a much different reason.

A voice came through everyone's earbuds. "When you find something." Ginger answered, slouching down into her office chair. Ginger had volunteered to stay at the base. Normally Isabella was against letting a troop member skip out on missions, but she decided Ginger's extreme fear of heights would hurt this particular mission more than the extra soldier would help it.

"Yeah, more like if we find something." Adyson was growing bored, a dangerous emotion for a soldier who was supposed to be on high alert. "How do we even know that intel's legit?"

"We don't," Milly spoke up, standing up and moving to Gretchen's side. "That's why we're here. To see if it is."

The Firestorm Girls had spent the whole morning and most of the afternoon watching the now destroyed business park on the north side of town after their leader received an anonymous tip that Doof was moving something big, and was planning to set it up there. They'd been up there for hours, yet, so far, they'd seen nothing.

"Remind me again: where did we get this intel?" Nobody replied, knowing that the answer would only make Adyson's complaining worse. Adyson looked around at the team, who were all continuing their duties without paying attention to her. "Well?"

Finally, Ginger spoke up. "It... It was an anonymous tip."

"Oh, well, that's not suspicious."

"Look," Isabella started. "We checked. It didn't come from Doof. Or his goons. Now, nothing we can do will make this go any quicker. So stop complaining."

Isabella was one of maybe three people on Earth who could shut Adyson up, and both of them knew it. Adyson let out a "humph" and moved to a corner of the roof, taking a seat on the short stone railing.

With Adyson quiet, the roof became silent. Holly and Gretchen continued watching the plaza, one with binoculars, one without. The tip they had received didn't specify what it was that their dictatorial enemy was bringing, simply that it was important; for the resistance, that was enough.

The team's mission was to identify the object and leave, nothing more. "Just recon" was the phrase the commander had emphasized during the mission briefing, mostly by saying it dozens of times in every sentence.

A six-person recon team was rare, but Isabella wanted to bring everyone. When questioned about it, she simply answered. "More and more, missions that start out as 'just recon' don't stay that way."

Some would call it preparedness. Other's would call it paranoia. Either way, Isabella got her way, and five other soldiers were now accompanying her on a quiet rooftop, waiting for something that might never come.

Adyson continued her self-issued time-out on the corner of the roof, passing the time by toying with her weaponized slingshot, wishing that someone, something, would break the silence.

And with a look of surprise and worry, she looked up, as her wish was granted.

"Hold on. I got something." Holly's voice shattered the silence, and the entire team crawled their way towards the front of the roof, keeping low to avoid being seen. "By the red building."

Gretchen slowly shuffled her prone body so that she could get a better look at the red building on the left side of the plaza. However, she only took a quick glance before lowering her binoculars, as one didn't need them to see what was advancing through the street next to the building. A legion of Normbots was hovering through the empty street, lead by the dictator himself.

The Normbots stopped just outside of one of the building opposite of the one currently inhabited by the recon team. The sounds of the robots' motors harmonized and blasted against the quiet plaza.

"There must be dozens," Katie remarked.

"What is it? What's going on?" Ginger rose up in her seat, suddenly on alert.

"See for yourself," replied Isabella, pressing a button on her headset. Back at base, a black monitor suddenly flipped on, showing exactly what the team leader was seeing. Ginger watched in speechlessness, though only for a second.

"Holy cow."

The team looked on at what seemed to be a menacing show of force to nobody. Not a single soldier knew what was happening. They each kept an eye out for the mystery object that was supposed to be accompanying the small army, but nothing came.

Isabella reassured the group. "Remember, they don't know we're here. Gretchen, you have the binoculars. Get a better look."

Gretchen did as she was told, though, as she raised the lenses to her eyes, she wondered for what was she was meant to be looking out. The Normbots acted like they always had like they were always programmed to, so she figured that if something interesting was going to happen, it wouldn't be them that would set it off. Rather, she decided that the leader of the bots would be the one doing anything interesting, so she focused on him. She followed him with her pupils as he moved from leading the march to standing perpendicular to the lines death machines, as though he was going to give them a pep talk.

The rest of the team sat quietly on the rooftop, staring at the robots as they slowly turned their hovering bodies so that they were always facing their master.

Gretchen watched and listened carefully, expecting the dictator to yell out some kind of order. However, no sound came. Rather, he raised his right arm, his index finger pointing to the sky. Gretchen furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, following the finger with her pupil as his body rotated. Once it got close to the finger got close to pointing at its final target, Gretchen's eyes opened wide.

In a tone that was equal parts forceful and fearful, she gave a single command: "Run."

"Is he pointing at-"

She almost dropped the binoculars and she moved her body and repeated her directive. "RUN!" The group followed her movements, shooting up from their prone positions as the robot army took aim. Lasers shot toward them, either shooting over their heads or hitting the front of the building they were atop. "Get to the stairs!"

"What's going on!" Ginger tried asked through their ears, but a sharp, loud screeching tone forced her to remove her headset. That, combined with the now static filled monitor, notified her that her communications had been jammed. She threw the headset on the ground in a fit of fast-burning anger. "Crap."

The barrage continued as the recon team moved into the roof entrance and down the stairs, dodging rubble as it fell from the ceiling. Through passing windows, the troop watched part of the army break of and advance towards the building. "They'll be waiting for us in the lobby!" Adyson pointed out, drawing her weapon.

"We'll deal with it. Just keep going!" Isabella commanded as the already battered building continued to crumble all around them.

They reached the first-floor lobby of the ruined office building, and as expected, were met with a small section of the robot army. "Behind the desk!" They moved to the secretary's station, lasers barely missing most of the soldiers.

Most.

Milly was forced to the ground as the laser hit her shoulder, not so much taking cover behind the desk as tripping behind it. She skidded for an inch across the dust-covered floor. "Hit!" She yelled out, prompting Katie to unpack her medkit.

The large, arched desk provided perfect cover to the team. While Katie tended to Milly's burning shoulder, the rest of the group took Adyson's example, drawing their modified slingshots and loading them with explosive pellets.

They waited for a chance to rise from their cover and take a shot but continued laser fire gave no such opportunity. They simply waited, hiding behind the desk as it, too, began to crumble. Fed up, Adyson moved towards the edge of the desk, away from the lasers, and, with a cry of "Screw this!", rose up and fired.

It didn't take long for one of the Normbots to notice their now fallen comrade. They ceased fire and turned to take aim. Adyson, struggling under pressure to load another pellet stood in the open, inadvertently staying above cover. Taking the cease-fire as a chance to fire their pellets, Gretchen and the others rose up, noticing what Adyson did not. Diving for her teammate, Gretchen tackled Adyson to the ground behind a stone pillar. As she hit the concrete, the pain from the impact became masked by the pain from a shard of glass cutting through Gretchen's eyebrow. Blood fell down her face like a stream of red tears, and Gretchen opened her eyes to see a now blurry Adyson.

"Your glasses." Adyson pointed out.

"It's fine."

The others fired their projectiles. While most hit their targets, one was off, hitting the wall behind the enemies and exploding. As Adyson noticed the rather large hole created by the pellet, an idea appeared in her head. "Fire at the wall!" She yelled to the rest of the team over the laser fire and incomprehensible gibberish coming from the Normbots. The squad looked behind them at the stone wall, already rattled with holes. "It'll create a hole. That's our way out!"

"With that kind of force, the whole building will drop on us!" Holly yelled back.

"You got a better idea?"

Before Holly could answer, Isabella loaded a pellet in her weapon and aimed at the wall. "On my mark!" She waited for the rest of the team to load their projectiles before giving her order. "Fire!"

The room filled with dust and smoke. Most of the back wall was gone, leaving a large hole. The laser fire continued, and as predicted, the building began to crumble down, parts of the second floor dropping like boulders.

For the third time that day, Gretchen gave the order. "Run for it!"

Keeping low to avoid fire, they exited through the hole as the building began collapsing. Panicked cries of nonsense could be heard as the Normbots struggled to exit the building.

The entire building fell into a large heap of stone, wood, and drywall as a wave of dust rippled from the remains.

–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–|–

The dust from the collapsing building acted as cover as the Firestorm Girls retreated from the ruined plaza. Scattered, the team attempted to navigate the fog of dust to their emergency rendezvous. Once they got clear of the Normbots and dust, they regrouped.

"Okay, what the hell?" Adyson exclaimed between exhausted breaths. "That was supposed to be easy recon."

"We got ambushed," Gretchen replied, removing her shattered glasses and throwing them away on the ground. "They must've known we were coming."

The girls became silent for a single second before drawing their slingshots, the same thought on everyone's mind. "We were sold out." Katie was the first to speak her mind aloud. "We were sold out. One of us is a traitor." Accusing eyes were on everyone's faces as they attempted to figure out who could do such a horrible thing.

Adyson became the second to talk, furrowing her eyes and aiming for Gretchen. "It was you." As Adyson said this, all eyes turned to face the half-blind Gretchen. Gretchen stood her ground and returned the glare, ready to face Adyson's accusation. "You were jealous of Isabella. Jealous that she was the leader, while you were just the second in command, forced to take her orders. You wanted her gone so that you could become the leader."

Gretchen furrowed her eyebrows. "Or maybe it was you, Adyson. You were never happy being part of a team. You were always going off on your own; ready to face the entire legion of Normbots alone, even if it meant putting the rest of us in danger. You never cared about us."

Milly joined in the accusations, turning her eyes and slingshot in Katie's direction. "I think it's Katie. Always unappreciated, never getting to be part of the action. The medic. How ironic, the one who's supposed to save our lives is the one who intended to end them."

"Milly how dare you. I saved you. I healed your wounds. You wouldn't be alive if it weren't for me." While the arguing continued, Holly scanned the group and noticed something.

"Guys…" she attempted to get the attention of the group, but she went unheard over the accusations. "Guys!" Still nothing. "GUYS!" She finally screamed out. Everyone stopped and looked at Holly, keeping their weapons pointed in each other's directions. With the group's eyes fixed on her, Holly asked her troop members one question. One question that changed the group, and the war, forever.

"Where's Isabella?"


End file.
